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Okay so this is just a random rant about something that really bothers me in today's society I guess.

I feel like too many people say "Oh I love my pets/dogs/I love animals." but they just end up thinking of them
as play things, and they become inconvenient when they don't obey you to do something or whatever.
I really hate this way of thinking. Animals and pets are not solely meant for your entertainment.

I decided to post this because in my home we have 4 inside dogs and I have my cat. This being, means she has
to stay inside my room at all times. (which kind of sucks) So, I'm not going to talk about what happened exactly, but
long story short, my step-sister threatened to make me get rid of my cat for something that wasn't even serious.
(She even apologized later for losing her temper.)

I just feel like nobody understands that she's not just a cat or some useless animal. She means a lot to me
and I'd do everything I could to make sure she was okay. Even if she does some stupid stuff sometimes, I'd
never want something bad happen to her.

I'm sure you guys love your pets and all, I'm not accusing anyone here of anything;
but what do you guys think?

In my opinion,
Animals are so precious and need to be loved and understood that they aren't just mindless beasts meant to serve humans.

There is a difference between loving an animal as a (priced) posession and loving an animal as an equal, a friend. That is very true.

My own cats just moved in here one day, sitting on the doorstep looking sick and pityful. Now they are healthy, sleek, loungetigers. They are family, individuals I share my home with. Sometimes they annoy the crap out of me, just like any old familymember, but I love them none the less. As does my partner: he grew up thinking animals are filthy, lowly beasts, but now because I kept bringing in animals, his heart opened up and he happily shares his yoghurt with Lexi, our oldest cat: he a spoon, she a lick, he a spoon, she a lick... Even his family comes here and then always goes out to visit our animals first now.

In your story, there seems to be another component that complicates matters though: that of perspective. The cat is your friend, but the dogs are probably her friends, so she might just be defending her friends against your friends. And another angle might be a dash of jealousy or (step)siblingrivalry of trying, conciously or unconsiously to hit there where she knows it will hurt the most.

So while I agree with the theoretical difference and your stepsister might well have another view on animals, their individuality and soul, than you do, it might not be the root of the issue here. Even if it is, it can be changed (as proved by my hub).

Making it discussable in your family might be the most important thing. They don't have to take on your views, but you can ask them to respect your views, and you can be open to their views and experiences. Best of luck (and a scratch behind the ears for your lovely feline).

Three sounds one should treasure:
the whisper of the wind through the leaves
the songs of one's heart
the callings of the universe Golden Harps are like cookies, you can never have just oneSacred spaces and places

Certainly many people seem to anthropomorphise their pets a lot and don't recognise that the animals have certain traits of their species and do not follow the same behaviours as humans. I see the thing about viewing a pet as a possession, for what it does for you, rather than respecting it as an autonomous being in human-human relationships as much as human-animal ones. I've learned a hell of a lot keeping 2 rabbits (only 1 left now) observing them and empathising with them, and I don't ever want to keep a caged animal again as a result. I've lost count of the number of people I know whose cats have gone walkabout and the person is devastated, not realising that that is what cats do and sometimes they don't come back because cats pick their humans.

.. in my home we have 4 inside dogs and I have my cat. This being, means she has to stay inside my room at all times. (which kind of sucks) ... In my opinion, Animals are so precious and need to be loved and understood that they aren't just mindless beasts meant to serve humans.

Is your cat happy to live in one room? After our previous cat died several years ago we bought a pedigree cat (we’d always had rescue or friends’ kittens before.) We were advised, by the breeder, to keep him in as there had been examples of pedigrees being stolen. We did this for a while (obviously to begin with he had to get used to his new home etc anyway) but soon decided that, like any of the other cats who had owned us, he deserved the choice. We’ve always chosen houses that are away from busy roads so that wasn’t an issue. (If I lived somewhere that wasn’t suitable for a cat then I wouldn’t have one.) I can’t tell if he’s happier now but at least he has the choice. He goes out a lot in warm dry weather but refuses to go out when it rains so I think, from his choices, that he is happy. I know it’s anthropomorphising but I’d hate to spend my life restricted to a house let alone one room.

For more information about what cats apparently "like" I found the recent BBC Horizon series about cats interesting. Although I knew some of the things illustrated, such as cats being solitary, needing their own territory and even working “shift systems” when overcrowding (such as in towns) meant that they had to share territory, there was plenty of new information there. I hadn’t realised, for example, that adult cats rarely communicate by sound in day to day situations. My own cat tends only to vocalise as a greeting and it always amused me that he normally tries to get his (“I want to eat”, “Can I go out?”, “Why can’t you move and let me sit there?”) message across by body posture, staring at me etc. Only if I don’t respond will he resort to meows - different ones for different messages. Apparently when interacting with each other adult cats use body language almost exclusively, except in the last resort of obvious “stand off” and cat fight encounters. It tends to be only kittens that communicate with their mothers by meows – and adult cats who perhaps think we’re so dumb we need to be talked to in baby language!

If you’re a cat owner and think you understand your cat, the programmes are well worth a viewing. They seem to be on Youtube, although I watched them on terrestrial broadcast so haven’t checked out anything other than the Youtube addresses.

I agree with you that animals are precious. I have some dogs and cats of my own and I love them all. I know how some people will pick up their pet and try and cuddle it to death. I don't do that. I typically let the pet come to me, or on occasion when I call one of them, but usually I tend to let them do their natural thing on their own. When I do pet them, I try to be natural about it and know where to not pet or to not pet too roughly and when the animal is done, I let them go on their way to do whatever else. I recognize that they are individuals just like us and have their own preferences and behavior patterns and sometimes just want to be left alone. At times I also want to be left alone, so I respect this in any animal. Just my two cents.

I'm sure you guys love your pets and all, I'm not accusing anyone here of anything;
but what do you guys think?

I have some vegetarian friends who are quite committed to this line of thinking. Most people I know love their pets like family, but not so much the less cute and more delicious animals like cows, pigs, chickens and trout....well, precious in a different way.

Antropomorphising animals is weird imho: It starts with calling you "mummy" to your turtle and ends with poodles in pink tuutuu's. *shudder* On the other hand, I do recognise that it can be much more subtle, projecting our perceptions of what we think we would like "if we were a cat/dog/guineefowl" onto the actual animal. Yet, I feel it's important that even the most intelligent animals are by and large instinctdriven first and thoughtful second.

Natural behavior is all good and nice, and I let all my animals be who of what they are. On the other hand, we do share a home and as such we have to get along and sometimes make way for eachother. Since all animals (and most humans) are highly foodmotivated I will block their natural drive to make off with my sandwich. I don't give a rats ass about their instinct or them just being cats at that moment, my sammie is mine. Also, even if they want to cuddle and it's 3 am (favorite time for one of my cats to wake me up because she wants to be pet), most of the time they get a big "nope", after which she crawls under my blanket, curls up against my stomach and sleeps the rest of the night.

And in the bigger picture, we share a society with many other people around us. It is odd that "animals should be able to be themselves" is highly acceptable when we as humans often have to bend over backwards to fit in. As much as I like all animals, I don't enjoy finding strange cats poo in my herbgarden. If my cats got to roam around, they would "interact" with my neighbour's prized doves in a way that he won't enjoy. I don't think that's strange at all. Hell, I don't let the cats into my chickencoop either.

So, my cats don't go out, because in the front of the house there is a busy road, and in the back there are fields (and hunters) in this time of the year. That said, I have a idiotic big house and my cats more than their share of posts, toys and stuff. When the frontdoor opens, I don't get longing looks from them, more a "close that, it's getting cold". They don't live "natural" lives, but they seem to enjoy themselves, are healthy and quite happy according the reading on their "purr-o-meters".

So yes: when we have animals striving to be species-appropriate is fine, but the "all natural or not" route is not realistic in todays society.

*disclaimer: it's 7,15 am on a sunday morning when I start writing this post. I woke up this early because a cat threw up on the stairs. I might not be completely coherent.*

Three sounds one should treasure:
the whisper of the wind through the leaves
the songs of one's heart
the callings of the universe Golden Harps are like cookies, you can never have just oneSacred spaces and places

Personally I like a sensible mix of anthropomorphic treatment and animal respect. My cats are like my daughters in that I have that level of love for them. At the same time, I am fully aware that they are cats, with feline needs and personalities. Where I might give a human child some chocolate for good behaviour (or a bribe on rare occasions my parents have taught me) in order to reinforce it as something good to do, I would be rather stupid to do this with my cats (no matter how irresistible one of them finds the smell), so instead opt for a more feline appropriate treat (roast chicken for guaranteed cupboard-love). At the same time, I'm not naive enough to send them to the naughty step for putting things in their litter trays (and one day I hope to convince my partner's gran of this bit of sense).

Basically, the key for me is to treat them according to their species but with the same respect you'd show a human.

If at first you don't succeed, I hope it wasn't brain surgery.

Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

Certainly many people seem to anthropomorphise their pets a lot and don't recognise that the animals have certain traits of their species and do not follow the same behaviours as humans. I see the thing about viewing a pet as a possession, for what it does for you, rather than respecting it as an autonomous being in human-human relationships as much as human-animal ones. I've learned a hell of a lot keeping 2 rabbits (only 1 left now) observing them and empathising with them, and I don't ever want to keep a caged animal again as a result. I've lost count of the number of people I know whose cats have gone walkabout and the person is devastated, not realising that that is what cats do and sometimes they don't come back because cats pick their humans.

Having had house rabbits I've also learnt a lot about how they seem to choose people. My bunny will jump up and nip certain people who visit and some of those have turned out to not be the nature loving people they said they were. She had them sussed long before I did!